Saturday, February 11, 2012

Goodness! (Continued)

The conclusion of Who Needs God?, the post by writer, lecturer and broadcaster Kenan Malik that touched off a good discussion here the other day, ought to spark more reflection:

I want to finish this talk with French Algerian existential philosopher Albert Camus’ meditation on faith and fate .... There is, he observes, a chasm between "the human need [for meaning] and the unreasonable silence of the world."

Religion is a means of bridging that chasm, but a dishonest one.

"I don’t know if the world has any meaning that transcends it," he writes. "But I know that I do not know this meaning and that it is impossible for me just now to know it."

Camus does not know that God does not exist. But he is determined to believe it, because that is the only way to make sense of being human. Humans have to make their own meaning. And that meaning can come only through struggle....The certainties of God – though not just of God, of course - provide false hope and in so doing undermine our humanity by denying human choice.

For Camus, religious faith must be replaced not with faithlessness but with a different kind of faith: faith in our ability to live with the predicament of being human. And in so doing, Camus made fate a matter of human action, not of divine intervention or of natural cause.

About "Change of Subject."

"Change of Subject" by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn contains observations, reports, tips, referrals and tirades, though not necessarily in that order. Links will tend to expire, so seize the day. For an archive of Zorn's latest Tribune columns click here. An explanation of the title of this blog is here. If you have other questions, suggestions or comments, send e-mail to ericzorn at gmail.com.
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Contributing editor Jessica Reynolds is a 2012 graduate of Loyola University Chicago and is the coordinator of the Tribune's editorial board. She can be reached at jreynolds at tribune.com.